ELDERLY patients and nursing home residents are at risk of poor care due to cutbacks, a report warned yesterday.

Many NHS hospitals and nursing homes inspected by the Care Quality Commission did not meet respect and dignity standards.

Some failed to ensure that the elderly and vulnerable were given the food and drink they needed or helped them to eat or drink.

Several had inadequate staffing levels and failed to meet standards in medicine management and record keeping.

Health and care regulator CQC, which carried out 13,000 inspections, said financial pressures on the care system were having an impact on services.

Some providers struggled to provide “person-centred” care as they dealt with increasing workloads and staff shortages, its State of Care report claimed.

David Behan, chief executive of the CQC, said: “Pressures on some services are leading to problems in the quality of care, keeping people safe, treating people with dignity and respect, and involving people in decisions about their own care. But these pressures cannot be used as an excuse to deliver poor care.”

But these pressures cannot be used as an excuse to deliver poor care

David Behan, chief executive of the CQC

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “The basics of good care, such as dignity, compassion and respect, cannot be delivered in a conveyor belt approach which is task-orientated or lacking in empathy and human care.”

NHS Confederation chief Mike Farrar said: “In every part of the health service, we must make it a priority to get the cornerstones of good care right every time, including providing the right food and drink, treating people with dignity and respect, and co-ordinating arrangements to support people when they are ready to leave hospital.”

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “I’ve made it absolutely clear that quality of care needs to be valued as highly as the quality of treatment.

“And that there can be no hiding place for those providing poor care or sub-standard practice.”

Janet Morrison, chief executive of Independent Age, said the findings were “shocking and unacceptable”.

She called for councils to be more careful about which care service providers they used. She said: “Poor quality in care homes is partly to do with funding.

“Most older people in care homes have their fees paid in full or part by their councils, and councils are restricting the amount they pay to care homes.

“This can only put pressure on struggling homes, but good quality care is not necessarily more expensive than poor quality care, and councils could do much to improve quality by buying better. For all residents – whether council-funded or self-funders – homes need to improve management, working practices and staff attitude, many of which can be improved without extra cost.

“Better information for those choosing a care home would also help to reward good practice and drive out poor providers from the marketplace.”